pronounce it. so this is an suv maserati that apparently is going to be made in detroit. sergio marconi, ceo of chrysler and fiat, he made this announcement last year, that there might be something in the works. this got unveiled yesterday in germany. it looks like it will be built right alongside the jeep grand cherokee and dodge durango. it will have a v-8 ferrari engine made in america. back to you. >> wow! what's that puppy cost? do you know? >> no, they have not released a price yet. but i imagine it's out of my range. >> me, too. thanks so much, carter evans live from the nasdaq market site. "american morning" continues right now. i'm christine roman pz. a republican capturing the house seat left vacantant by anthony weiner and the gop is calling it a vote against president obama. i'm carol costello.

an unconscientious motorcyclists was saved. why they risked their own lives to save someone else on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, september 14th. ali has the day off. >> he does. tired after that big tea party. bob turner winning the race to fill anthony weiner's vacant congressional seat. it is the first time in nearly a century that a republican has captured the traditionally democratic ninth new york district, and turner did it with an anti-obama campaign. >> -- asked by the people of this district to send a message to washington, and i hope they hear it loud and clear. we have been told this is a

referendum and we're ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. >> mary snow is tracking this developing story for us. so did this come as a surprise or did people suspect this was going to happen? >> the polls leading into the race showed republicans were ahead but clearly the democrat was expected to win. democrats will say, look, there are conservative democrats in this district and president obama won i think by 11 points in 2008. however, anthony weiner was elected to seven terms here. democrats outnumber republicans three to one. clearly expected for democrats to win. we'll see exactly has this means. if you remember back in the spring there was a special election in upstate new york and a democrat won pap surprise, because it was a republican-held district. that democrat won on associate security and medicare.

the democrat here tried to make that the issue here, but in that time the economy has soured and polls showed that jobs were the big issue here. >> and this wasn't just an american and jobs issue. also an israel issue here. how did that play in? >> this was an unusual factor in this race. the republican here made israel an issue, and he is a catholic. the democrat is an orthodox jew and found himself on the defensive, because the republican candidate said, criticized president obama's policies on ish. ed koch said i want to send a message to president obama as israel and endorse the republican. so in the polls it wasn't that big of an issue, but there is a jewish population in this district. also same-sex marriage became an issue, because the democrat in this race supported same-sex marriage. anything but local.

>> the candidate did not support same-sex marriage? >> not a politician. a corporaler cable tv -- he did run against weiner. >> his position was same-sex marriage? >> right. >> the national election in 2012 will be interesting if this is a sign of things to come. >> republicans holding on to a congressional seat in nevada. mark amode damodei won. resigning from the senate in may after acknowledging an affair with a staffer's wife. the pressure is on for president obama to okay his jobs bill. look at our new cnn orc poll. more than half surveyed, 55%, do not approve of the way the president is handling his job. all the more reason the president is on the road today. in a key state of north carolina hoping to convince the american public it appears some in congress are holding back his

effort to deal with the job crisis. >> maybe there's some people in congress who would rather settle our differences at the ballot box than work together right now, but i've got news for them, the next election is 14 months away. and the american people don't have the luxury of waiting that long. >> dan lothian live at the white house. dan, good morning. the heat is on the white house to get this plan through congress. so how optimistic can the president be? >> reporter: well, they're trying to remain optimistic here at the white house, but there is, according to top aides, a sense of urgency as the president tries to sell this jobs plan not only to the american people but also to members of congress. as you pointed out, there are negative poll numbers, but in a new poll released just this morning, a cnn orc poll, this is a much more mixed review of what americans think about the president's jobs plan, while they still don't know all of the details inside that plan, overall on the major proposals, they like what they see.

43% are in favor of the plan. 35% oppose it. 22% are still unsure. so the president, again, as you pointed out, will be hitting the road after visiting key battleground states of virginia and ohio. this time he heads to north carolina just outside raleigh-durham, north carolina where he will visit a small business where the white house says has the benefit of the president's jobs plan and visit the state university. we expect to hear the similar message from yesterday in columbus, ohio, where the president was calling on americans to pick up the phone, to tweet, to use whatever method of communication, to force and convince their lawmakers to embrace this jobs bill, but there's still a lot of resistance from republicans who don't want to see any tax hikes as a way to fund the president's jobs plan. carol? >> dan lothian recording live from washington this morning. thanks, dan. a new legal setback for president obama's health care

law. a federal judge in pennsylvania declaring the provision that requires people to buy health care. health insurance is unconstitutional. the ruling was issued in one of more than 30 lawsuits nationwide that challenged the president's health care overhaul. the mandate is expected to end up in the supreme court. after nearly 24 hours, the taliban's attack on the u.s. embassy in afghanistan is over. security forces say they killed the six militants who stormed the nearby building in kabul and opened fire on the embassy in a nato command center. no one inside the u.s. embassy was injured but at least one police officer was killed outside of the embassy. a spokesman from nato says the strike was "carefully planned." we're told they were getting out of jail but this morning a far different story. an iranian judiciary official now says there is no decision on whether those two american hikers, shane bauer and josh

fattal, will be released. iran's president just said yesterday, told nbc news, they could be released with a couple of days. the hikers' attorney said they'd be freed as soon as each paid half a million dollar, but everything is up in the air now. a motorist pulled from a burning car by a group of bystanders. this is the video. brandan wright of logan, utah. unconscious. trapped under a burning bmw after a dpligs a parking lot. his uncle says no words can describe the gratitude of brandon's loved ones. >> the family, first and foremost, parents, siblings and everyone else, are incredibly thankful for these angels that came to his aid yesterday. the -- watching the video gives us chills. that car could have blown up at any time. it was amazing they risked their lives, 12 people, however many

it was to save brandon's life. >> more of those angels will be joins live from logan, utah in the next half hour of america america. and as you may expect, they were humble. can't wait to talk to them. just ahead, more numbers on pover poverty. more poor people than at any other time since america started keeping track. we'll visit a family who's barely getting by. the face of poverty in america. fire in the north. flame spreading 16 miles in one day in minnesota. smoke spreading across three states. nasa has a better yid just when a defunct six-ton satellite will be making its plunge back to earth. nice to know when that's going to happen. 8 minutes after the hour. [ hayden ] what if there was a makeup

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alarming. the united states is the poorhouse some are saying when you look how the great recession has really hit every -- almost every level of income in in the country. >> the numbers are staggering. more slipping into poverty. poverty level up fourth time in a row in 2010. more poor people in america than at any time since the census started keeping count, and that was 52 years ago. >> poppy harlow is with us. >> the number doesn't tell the full story. right now, 46.2 million americans living under the poverty line, under $22,000 a year. more than a year ago. the situation is certainly getting worse. the numbers do not tell this story. each story is different. each family is in a different situation, but a year along we spent the day aann valdez. her story is about chronic poverty. she grew up like this and now her kids are growing up like

this. we wanted to go back a year later and see if her situation was any different. >> meet the people in your community where you live. meet the people in the communities where you work, and meet the people in the communities where you represent. >> reporter: see the face of poverty. >> see the face of poverty. >> reporter: we met ann valdez a year ago living under the poverty line like millions of other american. we decided to come back a year later and see how ann's doing. >> my grandparents were one of the first tenants to live here are in 195 4. >> reporter: has the situation gotting better for you. >> no. it actually hasn't changed very much. right now i'm living on approximately $200 cash a month. $360 food stamps. i do not have a full-time job. on a daily basis since about 2004. >> reporter: how important ar the safety nets out there for you right now? the things that are paid for by

the government? >> well, safety nets are very important and the more that they cut, the scarier it is to think about tomorrow. i buy a lot of non-perishables. this way there's always something to eat and the jobs they try to get for us are minimum wage jobs. so if i get a minimum wage job it's still going to lead me to apply for medicaid and food stamps. so i'm still dependent on the system. sometimes you forget about what's healthy because you can't afford what's healthy. two for $5. >> reporter: your mom grew up in poverty. you've grown up so far in the same situation. wa are your aspirations? what do you want to become? >> i want for high people in the high chairs, like the senator, the congressman, even the mayor to come down here, see what's going on in this -- in these

neighborhoods. see how destroyed these neighborhoods are, the spirits of these people. they are completely gone. >> so what would you like to apyre to? >> what are your dreams? >> i don't have them. >> you were telling me before, brian, firefighter? >> yeah. that's what it was. i'd like to be a firefighter. >> hopefully brian's going to do just that. what struck me in the poverty report. the number of children. 22% of american children, one in five now living in poverty. research shows us in the next decade, 6 million more kids are going to fall into poverty. the trajectory is not good at all. >> obviously, she's not making $22,000 a year? >> she's not working. hasn't had a full-time job since 2004. i said, why don't you? she has a back and knee injury. the only job i can get, sales associate and i can't stand all

day. what really stood out to me i said how long have you been off food stamps? because her grandparents lived in the housing projects. her mom raced her in those same project as few buildings down and now she's raising her kids there. she said one year of my life. the one year i had a job working for the government is when i was off food stamps. >> he whole family is completely dependent upon the taxpayer? >> completely. >> about the poverty numbers. if you didn't have unemployment, you'd have more people in these numbers. long-term unemployment kept a lot people out of these numbers. >> and president obama talked about overhauling the unemployment system, changing the way it works. spending money to retrain people. ann and i talked about the fact she doesn't want pity. she wants opportunity and talked about training. you hear a lot from politicians but she says i'd like to be trained to get a job that i can physical do. a lot of people counter that. why have you been for seven years without work?

why not work part-time? people have a different take. the fact she would like that training is interesting when you have this discussion of changing the system. >> the more disturbing thing is her son, and you can see why the cycle perpetuates, because the son, how old is he? >> 12. >> he says he has no dreams. he has no idea. he's obviously a smart kid. >> very bright kid. >> you learn from what you see around you. you see people around you you want to immolate -- >> it's about losing hope. >> or never having had it. >> ann is a very outspoken woman in her community. she works for an organization called community voices heard. she's been fighting and fighting to change the rules. to get more aid. to have their voices heard, at least. so he does see a mother who is active. yeah, when you grow up like that, it's very, very difficult, and the numbers, as you know very well, are getting worse. the income gap, the rich are getting richer. there's no argument about that, and the poor, even this year, the bottom 60% of households saw their income fall even more.

>> we've always had poverty, multigenerational poverty and it's a tragedy. what these numbers really show is that the middle class got knocked out of it, too, and more people are on the verge of being once in the middle class and falling down. when you start to lose that ability to go from the very bottom to the top or stay in the middle class one generation after the other, that's when you really start to worry about the direction the country's going and weemp at that tipping point, i think. >> thank you, poppy. and some say the poverty line is set too loan. pushing back. hear both sides. if you qualify as being in poverty today then you're really in deep poverty because the number is so low. that's based on an outdated formula from the '60s. >> i think that these numbers are designed to exaggerate the extent of poverty in the united states in order to build a larger welfare state, and it does make it more difficult for us to tart the assistance to those who truly need it. >> the income for a typical

american family also took a hit last year falling slightly to about $49,500. now is your chance to "talk back" on a big story. actually that story. the question this morning what is our government's responsibility to those in need? some depressing numbers for you. america's poverty rate jumped to 15.1%. that's over 46 million people. what defines poverty? you heard poppy say it. if a couple has two kids and a family income of $22,314 per year, they are poor. ann valdez is one of the working poor. a single mom gets by thanks to food stamps and medicaid. >> you're in poverty. we have educations. we have abilities. we have aspirations. we have families. we have the same thing that apple pie america has. >> maybe you sympathize with ms. valdez. maybe that's the best you can do

in these tough economic times. personal responsibility these days is hot. government aid is not. you certainly heard that in the tea party debate when wolf blitzer asked, what should happen to a hypothetical 30-year-old man who had been injured in a car accident and had no insurance? >> that's what freedom is all about. taking your own risks. this whole idea you have to prepare and take care of everybody -- >> but, congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die? >> no. >> man: yes! >> there are some in america who ask, why should we, the taxpayers, help those who don't take responsibility for their own lives? why should the government dish out long-term unemployment benefits or food stamps or welfare? so our "talk back" question is a tough one today. what is our government's responsibility for those in need? face book poin kom slbook.com/ g

facebook.com/americanmorning. rileede -- i'll read your comments later in the hour. >> when does it reach that safety net? a big question. >> with more and more slipping into poverty and the middle class disappearing and no jobs out there, somebody's got to help. right? so it will be interesting to see what you have to say. also ahead on "american morning," casey anthony's parents breaking their silence. opening up to dr. phil. why mrs. anthony believes her daughter was an awesome mother. you're watching "american morning." it's 22 minutes after the hour.

were back. "minding your business "this morning. small gains by the end of trading yesterday. rattled by europe debt concerns, and that's going on right now still. right now futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are all trading lower ahead of the opening bell. part of the reason moody's rating service just announced this morning it is downgrading two of the largest europe banks, tempering markets this morning. ant later tim geithner will speak on a panel in new york city and make a push for the president's american jobs act, expected to put pressure on congress to pass the jobs package. and wall street is watching the u.s. economy and any events happening in europe. and reportedly extending contract talks indefinitely. the detroit free press this morning said the uaw continues labor talks with gm and chrysler today. midnight is the deadline before

the current contract runs out in those two countries. the latest report from the kren is says the middle class is still struggling. median household income is down for a third year in a row. it's where it was in 1996 when you adjust for inflation. this is "american morning." be right back after this break. sun life financialrating should be famous.d bad, we're working on it. so you're seriously proposing we change our name to sun life valley. do we still get to go skiing? sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial.

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welcome back to "american morning." good morning to you. it is half past the hour. here are this morning's top stories. a setback for democrats. bob turner winning the race to fill anthony weiner's vacant seat. the first time a republican captured the first democratic district. and a new poll, 54% of americans do not think the president is doing a good job. that makes today jobs speech

key. he travels to north carolina. he's taken his case directly to the american people. the taliban's attack on the u.s. embassy in afghanistan is over this morning. earlier today security forces killed the six militants who stormed a nearby building and launched a high-profile attack on the u.s. embassy. officials say no one inside it's embassy was injured. all the making of a political firestorm. accused of abusing his power by ordering young girls to get an hpv vaccine. also, congresswoman michele bachmann launched into rick perry at the cnn tea party debate. questions he's been answering in texas for some time now. here's cnn's ed lavandera. >> reporter: the hpv controversy hovered over rick perry more than four years, but it wasn't until the cnn tea party debate that perry's opponents really dug into the texas governor. >> to have innocent little 12-year-olds girls be forced to

have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong. >> the drug company gave thousands it of dollars and political donations to the governor, and this is just flat out wrong. >> the company was merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. i raise about $30 million, and if you're saying that i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. >> reporter: $5,000 in 2006, according to texas campaign finance documents. but altogether, merck has donated more than $2,000es 28,0 his campaigns. >> i do not understand why we as a people would not take this opportunity to use this vaccine that has come to us. >> reporter: that was rick perry back in 2007 trying to muster

support for the hpv vaccine mandate, but he was heavily criticized when it emerged his former chief of staff mike toomey worked about a lobbyist for merck and other companies before and after for working for perry. dall tea party activists attended the debate and said they weren't happy with perry's answers on this issue. >> capital cronyism is extremely important and runs rampant and the issue needs to be discussed and we need to make sure we have a candidate committed to principle governor not special interest driven. >> reporter: the relationship between rick perry his former chief of staff and the drugmaker merck is troubling for those for texas for public justice. it found merck donated more than $377,000 to the rga. that's since 2006. in the same period, the association has donated $4 million to rick perry's

campaigns for governor. all perfectly legal, but a glimpse into how money runs through the political system. and now rick perry says he handled the hpv vaccine issue all wrong. >> but on that particular issue, i will tell you that i made a mistake by not going to the legislature first. at the end of the day, this was about trying to stop a cancer. >> reporter: governor perry as his aides long denied this decision had anything to do with the campaign donations or the fact that governor perry's former chief of staff worked for a lobbyist for the drug maker merck and it didn't seem to bother voters in 2010 when governor perry was re-elected. ed lavandera, cnn, dallas. breaking silence for the first time, casey anthony's parents, since she was cleared of murder charges in july. appearing on the "dr. phil show." george admitting his daughter continue to lie after her daughter went missing.

cindy telling dr. phil she is convinced her daughter is sick and needs help. >> your theory is that she is a victim in this in some way. a victim of an illness a tumor or something? >> i truly believe that, because there was never any signs that casey was an unfit mother. shep was an awesome mother. looking back now, i'm almost wondering if she didn't develop postpartum schizophrenia or some kind of issue after her pregnancy pap hormonal type of illness. that's my perception, because none of those behaviors were exhibited prior to her pregnancy. >> the rest of dr. phil's interview with the anthonys airs today. in a bizarre twist, jose baez, the lawyer who's helped casey anthony beat a murder wrap, will defend the suspect in the disappearance of american tourist robin gardner in aruba. he's been hired by gary giordano

traveling with gardner. he was arrested shortly after she went missing on august 2nd. keep your eyes on the sky. nasa says a dead satellite will make an uncontrolled plunge back to earth by the end of this month. the six-ton satellite was decommissioned in 2005 and has been losing altitude ever since. officials expect most of the space junk to burn up during re-entry and pose little risk to us earthlings on the ground. >> a space chunk up there. only hope it burns on the way in. next up on "american morning," heroes who pulled an unconscious biker from beneath a burning car. 34 minutes after the hour. [ man ] natural gas vehicles are used somewhere...

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wildfire in minnesota now racing across the wilderness spreading over 16 miles in a single day. it started last month with a

lightning strike and began moving quickly this week in windy dry condition there's. dozens of homes evacuated. smoke and haze stretching from the canadian border, and into the chicago suburbs. the roof was closed on the stadium and it's 500 miles away. jacqui jeras is with us. >> a nasty fire up there. conditions a little better today as they do have a chance of rain. check out this satellite. impressive looking from space. this will show you that fire in minnesota. the red you see in the corner there, that's the heat signature, and then you can see the big plume of smoke. some is actually cloudiness, believe it or not. pyro-cum pyro-cumulo cumulus clouds. add that word at the water cooler today. incredible pictures for you this morning. showers possible with a cold front moving through, also

bringing in drier air behind it, but cooler. that's the big story across the country today is this cold front. it's going to make its way all the way down to the gulf coast by late tomorrow and across the east coast. so everybody, really, east of the rockies getting in on a nice break for you. at least in terms of temperature. highs today only in the 50s for the upper midwest. 67 in chicago. still hanging on to those triple digits across parts of the south, but only for one more day. frost and freeze advisories in effect for the upper midwest for tomorrow morning. it's going to be in the upper 20s to lower 30s. mighty cold even for this time of year but should help with the fire fighting efforts. christine and carol, back to you. >> thank you, jacqui jeras. and no matter how many time us see it you still cannot take your eyes off it. a young motorcyclist in utah underneath a burning car earlier in the week after a fiery parking lot collision. he is in satisfy condition because of a group of good samaritans who lifted the car off of him and pulled him to

safety. four of those heroes are with us this morning. jason olsen of the logan department and students james o'dea, i'm going to get your name wrong, anbar i know it, and abbas alshehri. welcome to all of you. appreciate you waking up for us. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> james, start with you. tell us what you saw when you got to the scene at ta parking lot? what went through your mind? >> what went through my mind was, the first thing that i was -- wa was going on, and somebody made it clear to me that the motorcyclist was under the car. so that's quickly prompted me to go ahead and give a helping hand to those who were already there to lift the car. >> so amazing. sergeant olsen, you were the first officer on the scene. describe the situation when you arrived. what did you see? >> when i got there, there were

several individuals starting to accumulate around the vehicle, and judging by their body language and the female getting down on the ground, it was obvious somebody was pinned underneath the vehicle that were both fully engulfed with fire. >> i assume, officer, that that group of people trying to pick up the car were already assembled near that burning car. so when you saw them, did you think, oh, these crazy people. has a what are they doing? >> i didn't really have time to think about that. i knew that there was some urgency and what needed to happen. i was trying to call for another officer to bring a jack up, but before we could even put that plan into action, the citizens had multiplied to a degree where they could actually physically lift that vehicle up off the ground. >> everybody seemed so calm. so abbas, why would you rush towards this burning car and put your own life at risk to save a stranger? >> well, even if he was a

stranger, he could be, like, my brother. he could be my friend. he could be anyone. he's just a human being, just like me. i think my human instinct and you know, the people trying to help, it's human instinct. the motive that was driving them to help or driving us to help. >> so anbar, you were one of the people who told brandon, the victim in this case, pulled him out from underneath that car. what did you think when you were pulling on his arm and you saw him? >> first of all, you can see from the video it was very hard, kind of big fire that was there, and it was very hot when we lifted the car, and when aye look at underneath, i saw a lot of blood, and i saw how he was unconscious, and at the time we

didn't think about ourselves. we had to -- pull him to safety. so -- i didn't think anything and i just think -- i thought about to help him. as much as possible. >> so abbas, when anbar pulled the victim's body out from the car and he was lying in the street, did you think he was going to be okay? >> well, i -- like, you know, i'm a positive person in nature. so i always like have hope. and when i saw brandon, i saw his face, i believed that he's going to make it and i'm glad that he made it like right now, and he's feeling better. >> yes. we are, too. as i said, he's in satisfy condition. >> if i may add something quickly. that was weren't of the reasons why i decided to go for it as well, because i had the faith that he was going to survive. to give him a second chance at least in life. >> that's terrific.

sergeant olsen, a final question for you. it is your job to run towards danger. what do you think about these people putting their lives at risk, running towards danger? >> well, i think it's a general role, especially in this county, this valley, this kind of human nature. i'm never too surprised to see people want to engage and help, especially in traumatic situations. i'm comforted to know that these -- all these gentlemen here are very educated and they calculated the risk before going in. it was a conscious decision. he downplay it because they had adrenaline really helping them out. they knew what they were doing. they knew there were risks involved but they made a conscious choice to get involved, and quite frankly, it saved the man's life, because me and the other officers would have never been able to probably do it in time. >> terrific.

thanks to all of you for being with us this morning, and, geez what more can you say? thank you all. anbar, say your last name for me? >> my name is [ inaudible ]. >> thank you very much. thank you for being here. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. >> thanks to all of you. this morning's top stories straight ahead, including the former obama administration official jumping into the race for a u.s. senate seat. and the guy who squeezed through a drive-through window, got naked and made chicken tenders. not kidding. 46 minutes past the hour. he's able to communicate online with the blink of an eye.

>> for people with disabilities now have a communication tool. they can take part in social media. >> for drew and people with similar disabilities, eye tracking is a huge part of their lives and it could become a part of everyone's sooner than you think. new computers allow you to flip plow folders scan over maps and select music with a glance of your eye. >> in the next five to ten years i think technology will be in almost every device you use on a day-to-day basis. >> which could mean using your eyes to adjust settings in your car. scroll through the web, and even play games. >> ah, yeah! >> it looks like a lot of fun. it can also give instigt hight we think. >> so many ways your eyes move is related to your brain. >> and helping doctors spot early developmental problems in children. it's the technology of tomorrow with advantages you can see today. gary tuchman, cnn. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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traditionally democratic ninth new york district, mark amodei. and in afghanistan, officials say security forces killed the six militants who stormed the nearby building and opened fire on the embassy in kabul. and 11 people were killed when a train in buenos aires slammed into a bus, derailed and struck by another train on the track. 228 people at least were injured in the accident. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. former new mexico governor bill richardson is returning home from cuba this morning without jailed american grose. he wasn't allowed to visit him. he is serving a sentence for trying to set up illegal internet connections on the island. and the former obama administration official and consumer advocate confirming she will challenge republican scott brown for ted kennedy's old seat. the band fish holding a

benefit for vermont. the band phish. helping those devastated by irene's floodwaters. hundreds of roads washed out, dozens of towns cut off by that storm. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" back right after this.

were back to "american morning." 52 minutes past the hour. fewer pat-down for kids at airport security checkpoints. the tsa changing the way children are screened before they get on airplanes. videos like this added fuel to the fire over physical body checks. the tsa now says kids under 12

years old will be allowed to keep their shoes on and get several passes through metal detectors and screeners. if they keep going off, the pat-downs will only be a last resort. hope there's good stuff on the dvr. dish network suffered a major outage mostly effecting hd service. problems from denver to indianapolis to savannah, georgia. the company blamed "satellite anomaly" and hopes it will be fixed by this morning. >> i'm sure it will be. we asked you to "talk back" on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning what is our government's responsibility for those in need? we're getting a huge response to this question this morning. this is from val. the government cannot be responsibility for the choices someone made in their life. the government should create the environment that allows people to get out of poverty, if they want to. and work for it. this from natasha, to some degree the government should take care of the most vulnerability citizens and it's part of the people's citizens to

pick themselves up by the bootstraps. we're living in difficult times which call for additional measures to do what it necessary sow help. this from sarah, i'm a teacher who works with students from poverty. our government's first priority, equally educate all students and that's not happening. schools should be funded equally so everyone at least has access to a great, promising education, and an ideal future. please, keep the conversation going, because it's an important one this morning. facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. we'll read more responses later in the show. >> part of the president's jobs bill is for extended unemployment insurance and weren't of the things they want to change, you lose unemployment insurance if you start your own business or company, trying to make it for yourself. they want to change that. so you can still get the benefits but try to start something. try to start a job, and that would be a big change, and that's because they're trying to change the way we're doing some

of these unsafety net programs. >> and a lot of opposition to the plan? republicans don't want long-long unemployment to continue after 99 weeks? >> talking about that, you put another year on that. talking about a chronic problem that needs to be addressed with retraining. not just more unemployment benefits. there you go. but there aren't jobs on the other end. that's what the real problem is. i guess he was hungry. right? video surveillance from a mr. beef outside chicago. police say a guy with a late-night snack attack tried to squeeze through the bars of the drive-through window. got stuck -- >> oh. >> and stripped down to hisenedihisened undies to get free. even though he tripped the alarm, he grabbed chicken fingers and tossed them in the microwave. the cops showed up and arrested him. >> i'll never eat at that restaurant again. what could be a sign of big trouble for president obama. a heavily democratic district here in new york, anthony

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a sobering setback for democrats. anthony weiner's vacant house seat won by a republican. that has not happened in new york's ninth district in nearly a century. after nearly 20 hour, the taliban assault on a u.s. embassy in afghanistan is over. details on how security forces were able to take down the terrorists. casey anthony's parents breaking silence, talking to dr. phil. you'll hear from cindy anthony who explained why she still believes her daughter was an awesome mother. and new york city's finest busting a move in a parade. those officers feeling heat on this "american morning." and good morning. >> because it was bad dancing? anyway, good morning to you. it is wednesday september 14th. welcome to "american morning." >> up first, democrats reeling from an obama backlash, licking

wounds this morning after a devastating setback in new york. bob turner winning the race to fill anthony weiner's congressional vacant seat in the big apple. the first time a in a century a republican has captured this very democratic district in new york and turner did it with an anti-obama campaign. >> we've been asked by the people of this district to send a message to washington, and i hope they hear it loud and clear. we have been told this is a referendum and we're ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. >> all right. mary snow tracking it all for us this morning. how big a surprise was this? >> this was supposed to be a snoozer. anthony weiner, forced to resign backjanuary. remember, talking about the fact this district is expected to go away. redistricting. this candidate was going to be seen as a place holder and anticipated the democrat would

win. and the democrats started getting nervous when polls showed he was running behind. you may remember, also a special election in new york state back in the spring, a democrat took a republican district, and was basically on social security and medicare. the democrat in this race, he did try to make this about preserving social security and medicare, but, you know, it was the economic recovery that became the dominant theme. >> so it's jobs, jobs, jobs. not the cuts to entitlement programs, nothing else. if a politician wants to win, he should just talk about getting people employed. is that the lesson? >> and we should point out, even though democrats outnumber republicans three to one, there are conservative democrats in this district who have supported republicans in the past. but, really, it does seem that, you know, voters are saying that economic recovery and jobs were the dominant theme, and the frustration with what is going on. >> there was an israel factor,

too. bob trn turner ran, criticizing president with his relations on israel? >> really unusual. he's a roman catholic. the democrat is an orthodox jew and found himself on the defense over israel. bob turner made this an issue, criticizing the president for not being a strong enough supporter of israel and ed koch, former democrat of new york city, came out to endorse the republican in this race saying he wanted to send a message saying that the president had thrown israel under the bus. you know, this is a large jewish population in this district, there is. and the polls, talking to one pollster, in the end, it was not a big factor among the people that they spoke to, but, still -- >> some of those conservative democrats in that population might actually have agreed more with the catholic's position on same-sex marriage, right, than maybe the new york state making same-sex marriage law? >> ride.

and david wepner voted to support sakes sepp marriage, even though bob turn you are downplayed that in the race, outside groups came in, saw this as an opportunity to make this an issue. it was really a lot of national issues. >> interesting. >> mary snow, many thanks. >> sure. new evidence this morning, the stakes could not be higher for president obama and his jobs plan. according to a new cnn orc poll, 55% of americans do not think the president is doing a good job. while on the road the president suggested republicans know he is vulnerable and punishing the unemployed to keep his poll numbers down. >> they supported this stuff in the past, but they're thinking maybe they don't do it this time, because obama the promoting it. give me a win? this isn't about giving me a win. this isn't about giving democrats or republicans a win. it's about giving the american people a win. >> dan lothian live at the white house. so, dan, are people, you know,

at a wider forum, he's speaking to his supporters there in ohio, but are people buying that argument? >> reporter: well, it does appear that they are. much more mixed reviews than a poll that was just released this morning from cnn, orc poll, showing that a lot of americans, while they are unsure about all of the details of the president's plan, when it comes to the major proposals, they like what they see. take a look at the screen. 43% are in favor of the plan. 35% oppose it. 22% are unsure. so that's why you're seeing the president hitting the road again today after visiting the battleground states of virginia and ohio just yesterday. the president this time heads to north carolina. he'll be visiting a small business just outside raleigh-durham, where the white house says he will tour a small business that stands to gain from some of the elements of the president's jobs bill. and then after that he'll make some remarks at north carolina

state university. we expect to hear the same message we heard from the president yesterday. first of all, explaining to the american people what's inside the jobs bill, but also calling on them to put pressure on their lawmakers. >> i need you to call and e-mail and tweet and fax and visit and tell your congressperson that the time for gridlock and the time for games is over. the time for action is now. >> now, this selling jobs will continue according to senior aides here at the white house. the president will spend the next few months hitting the road. not only visiting battleground states, other states as well. expect a media blitz in regional interviews, in addition to that, the president is also expected to take another bus tour although the details of that tour made made just yet. >> interesting. dan lothian reporting live from washington. thank you. now's your chance to "talk

back" on one of the big stories. the question, what is our government's responsibility to those in need? depressing numbers for you. america's poverty rate jumped to 15.1% over 46 million people. what defines poverty? if a couple has two kids and a family income of $22,314 per year, they are poor. ann valdez is weren't of the working poor. a single mom. she gets by thanks to food stamps and medicaid. >> we're in poverty. we have educations, we have abilities, we have aspirations we have families. we have the same thing that apple pie america has. >> maybe you sympathize with ms. valdez. maybe that's the best can you do in these tough economic times. personal responsibility is hot these days. government aid appears to be not. you certainly heard that in the tea party debate when wolf blitzer asked what should happen

to a hypothetical 30-year-old man who had been injured in a car accident and had no insurance. >> that's what preem is all about. taking your own risk. freedom. this whole idea you have to take care of everybody. >> but congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die? >> no. >> man: yes! >> there are some in america who ask, why should we, the taxpayers, help those who don't take responsibility for their own lives? why should the government dish out long-term unemployment benefits or food stamps or welfare? so our "talk back" question is a tough one this morning. what is or government's responsibility for those in need? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later in the hour. after 24 hours the attack by taliban on an embassy in

afghanistan. no one inside the embassy was injured. at least one police officer was killed outside the building. a spokesman for nato says the strike was "carefully planned." we've gotten word they were getting out of jail, but this morning a different story. an iranian judiciary official now says there is no decision on whether two american hikers, shane bauer and josh fattal, will be let go. iran's president yesterday told nbc news they could be released with a couple of days. the hikers' attorney said they'd be free as soon as each paid half a million in bail. as things stand's now, it's all up in the air. dish suffer and outage. knlts across the country reported problems from denver to indianapolis to savannah, georgia. the company blamed a satellite anomaly and hopes it will be fixed by this morning. dish network says if you unplug your box and plug it back in, you should be able to at least

watch standard definition channels. >> good luck with that. several new york city police officers have explaining to do. a youtube video shows them bump and grinding with women while on duty at the west indian parade. the nypd says it's investigating. in a massive minnesota wildfire, more than 100,000 acres burning nearly a month, during a lightning strike. the blaze spread 16 miles in a single day this week. it stretches across hundreds of miles of chicago city skyline is shrouded in a smoky haze. >> talking to jacqui jeras in minnesota. is it unusual for minnesota to have a wildfire? >> they do have a wyldfire seil season. it's densely wooded and hard to fight these fires because there are so few road around there, and it's hard to get at. they can't do a lot of air assaults with this thing, either. boy, can you see this from

space. take a look at this picture we have from nasa. this shows you the plumes of smoke as well as the clouds that developed because of it. it's very cold in minnesota, by the way today, and the winds are very strong. so unfortunately, the potential for more growth with this fire is very high. there is a chance of a couple of showers this afternoon. that's the best thing we can tell you about that fire growth. also, of course, fires burning in texas. a new fire burning in parts of southern california right now. now, this cold front is really the biggest weather story we have across the knt today, and this going to affect so many people. basically, if you live in the colorado rockies, anywhere east of there, you will get a break from this front, except for maybe southern parts of florida. temperatures much cooler today. look at minneapolis. 58 degree. that's cold for this time of year and overnight temperatures so cold, frost and freeze advisories in effects for much of the upper midwest, in the upper 20s to lower 30s. where the fire was, only 32 degrees at this hour. still blistering hot across the

south. 101 degrees in texas. 107 in dallas. that would be 70 100-polilus temperatures. waco also in on that streak. houston, 102 yesterday, and that's the latest you've had those triple digits temperatures and joplin, missouri, at 100 degrees. the cool down is on the way. we expect travel trouble because of the cold front bringing in scattered showers. chicago could have delays because of the haze and wind from the cold front. st. louis looking for delays because of thunderstorm. denver getting thunderstorms and windy. low clouds and fog in san francisco. things dry up a little in las vegas. one system affecting so many across the country today. >> thank you, jacqui. still to come, casey anthony's parents opening up to dr. phil.

you'll hear why cindy anthony still believes her daughter was an awesome mother. the story people can't stop talking about. these good samaritans rescuing a motorcyclist from beneath this burning car. you'll hear from the heroes who pulled this young man to safety. and the tsa responding to the outrage over videos that went viral. you're watching "american morning." it's 12 minutes past the hour. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a living, breathing intelligence that's helping people rethink how they live. ♪

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how long could we go without having to talk about the casey anthony story? >> not long. >> casey went underground. but her parents are breaking silence for the first time since their daughter was cleared of murder charges back in july.

>> that's right. george and cindy anthony talk with dr. phil admitting their daughter continuesed to lie after their granddaughter caylee went missing. cindy confiding in dr. phil and the rest watching dr. phil about the rage she felt towards casey when the case first broke. >> i just screamed at her. so what the hell are you talking about? i said -- what do you mean you haven't seen caylee? and that's when i just screamed at her and i -- i wanted to go choke her or hit her and i just went over there and i just punched the bed as hard as i could to get my anger out. >> bring in cnn legal contributor to talk more about the interview with casey anthony's parents. she says further she was an awesome mother. can't understand why this happened. and that maybe her daughter was suffering from a brain tumor or something. what do you make of this sort of, trying to explain away this

behavior? >> well, obviously, there's no way to escape the casey anthony story. the nation's been obsessed with it for so long. this is the wrap-up. it's obviously a mother who cannot accept the fact that her granddaughter was killed by her daughter. i think this interview clearly shows she believes that her daughter's the killer, an she's now concocted excuses. she's saying she siuffered from postpartum schizophrenia. by the way, doesn't exist. something called post partum psychosis but manifests in a different way. you have it over a long period of time and it's blatantly obvious. she said her daughter had a brain tumor. they did cat scans of casey anthony. no brain tumor. a couple seizures. as somebody who has prosecutesed murder cases myself, seizures don't cause peep to murder their kids. >> she's just a mother trying to explain away what is behavior that seems impossible for anyone to understand, also why people are obsessed with the story.

you just can't understand how a mother wouldn't know where he daughter was and wouldn't go looking for her. >> exactly. she's got to be haunted by guilt to a certain extent herself. this child was missing for an extensive period of time before the grandparents got involved, really, in reaching out to the police and starting a search and they, of course, backed their daughter through most of the preliminary investigation. when i think it had become obvious to the police the daughter may have, in fact, been involved in the killing. but, of course, we have to remember, a jury has found casey anthony to be not guilty of this crime. >> we also had to remember that many feel that both parents lied on the stand for casey anthony. in the dr. phil interview, both think casey anthony killed caylee, yet they lied on the stand, supposedly, and their daughter has been cleared. how do they live with that? >> i don't know. and you know, prosecutors -- what's the prosecutor's responsibility here? they did the best they could to

try to get a conviction in this case. do they have an obligation to ge after george anthony and to cindy because of this? i think most people would like to just walk away from this case and pretend it never happened. >> i mentioned it before but i'd like to listen to the sound bite of cindy giving the legal perspective why this wouldn't have already come up in court. listen to this. >> your theory is that she is a victim in this in some way. a victim of an illness, a tumor or something? >> i truly believe that, because there was never any signs that casey was an unfit mother. she was an awesome mother. looking back now, i'm almost wondering if she didn't develop postpartum schizophrenia or some type of issue after her pregnancy. a hormonal type. >> well, you know, i think from a legal standpoint we have to remember something very important. jose baez, the defense attorney in this case, was faced with a

death penalty case. in a death penalty case, if you have a medical defense, you are going to present that medical defense. and by the way, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, while it's extremely rare, we've seen it in cases. well publicized cases where mothers hurt their children e in that state. you have to know that if baez thought there was medical support for that claim, he would have presented it or he would have been guilty of legal malpractice. i think we can safely assume, there was no medical evidence to support that defense and this is a mother hoop now reaching and desperately trying to decide how this person, this daughter of hers, could have murdered her own child, and i think from a legal standpoint, though, there's nothing to suggest there was a legitimate psychiatric defense in the case. >> i think we'll hear from them again. i predict that. >> i think you're pretty accurate about that. maybe casey will sue the parents now for defamation. for accusing her of being

mentally ill. anything can happen. >> anything is possible in that case. thanks for being with us. still to come, the amazing rescue everyone is talking about. you'll hear from four of the heroes who lifted that burning car off of a trapped biker. talking about poverty and bringing me to today's "roman's numeral." a hint. it has to do with someone's growing paycheck. it's 22 minutes after the hour. ♪ sent her back to college for her sophomore year ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪

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"minding your business" now, small gains by the end of trading yesterday. right now future, dow and s&p all trading higher ahead of the opening bell. wall street is bracing for another, i don't know, indecisive session, though. appears europe's debt problems are plaguing the markets. moody's downgraded two of france's largest banks, wide being exposure to debt and the financial crisis there, and this

matter here's, because the world's largest banks are so interconnected and the banking system critical. later this morning, treasury secretary tim geithner make as push for the president's american jobs act in a discussion in new york. he's expected to put pressure on lawmakers to move quickly in passing the jobs package. watching this comments for the condition of the u.s. economy and any news on europe's debt situation. ford and the united auto workers union reportedly suspended talks indefinitely. the uaw continues labor talks with gm and chrysler today. midnight was the deadline before the current contract runs out for those two companies. radical design. microsoft unveiling new software at its conference in anaheim, california, yesterday. part of the design, make it more user friendly for touch screen devices. and this morning's "roman's numeral" the number 42% is how much the richest 5% in america

saw their income rise over the past 30 years. compared to the middle class, only 11%, what they made in 1980. check out the all-new "american morning" cnn.com. ah looks like somebody's a winner. ha, not me! cause shipping is a hassle. different states, different rates. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, a so shipping for the chess champ in charleston is the same as shipping for the football phenom in philly? yep. so i win! actually, i think you deserve this. no, i deserve this. wow, got one of those with a mailman on top? priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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good morning to you. it's just about half past the hour. time for our top stories. the taliban's attack on the u.s. embassy in afghanistan is

finally over this morning. earlier today security forces killed the six militants who stormed a nearby building and launched an attack on the u.s. embassy. officials say no one inside the embassy was injured. a setback for democrats. bob turner winning the race to fill anthony weiner's vacant congressional seat. the first time in a century republicans captured this traditionally democrat ninth new york district. and today president obama heads to north carolina to build support for his $447 billion jobs plan. his push coming at his disappointing rating hits a new high. 55% do not approve of the president's job performance. new numbers out on poverty in america. alarming. last year another 2.6 million slipped into poverty bring the total to 46 million people living below the poverty line. 15.1% of americans. a family of four living on about $22,000 a year. the big headline may be of the

decline of the middle class. joining us, the anger of epin "pinched." don, welcome to the program. the great recession, knocked the stuffing out of the middle class. knocked more people in the ranks of the very poor in this country. too many children are living in poverty and, frankly have been for years, but this lack of opportunity, this lack of being able to move up once you get into the middle class or being able to hold on to your position in the middle class, that's pretty alarming. >> it's really alarming, and when you look at the structure of job losses in this recession, what you find is that on net, the vast majority of job losses what the economy called middle skilled jobs, office in non-managerial office work that traditionally provided a middle class life to people with a high school diploma, but not a college degree. that's 60% of american adults. those people by the millions have been falling ouch the middle clas

middle -- out of the middle class. at the bottom of the economy $15 an hour or less. showing poverty, extremely worrying and reflect unem employments rates and reflects the calling of the middle class, falling of the middle class and accelerated since the crash. >> interesting to me about this, always an opportunity in this country, no matter what your education, skill level, your mix of abilities, to be able to find a place. and i'm finding there aren't as many places anymore. what changes that or fixes that? >> i mean, what's happened is companies in the recession have pulled forward offshoring decisions and restructuring decisions substituting technology for labor that otherwise would have taken them years. we're seeing an acceleration of very deep forces in the economy anyway and disproportionately affected people with kind of middling skills. mostly people without a

four-year college degree. there is no silver bullet for fixing that unfortunately, but there are a wide array of measures that we can take, i think. i do think a stimulus that the jobs bill, the president just proposed, can be an important salve over the next couple of years to create jobs quickly, keep more people from falling out of the middle class. ultimately we need to increase or rate of breakthrough innovations to provide for good jobs and also we need to reform our educational system. we focus almost entirely on university education. only 30% of adults, even young adults, are college graduates. college education, we should encourage it, but it can't be the entire solution to our middle class woes. we need to rebuild more pathways into the middle class for people who don't get a four-year college degree. >> the thing when you look at dropout rates. we have some, you know, i think it's 2,000 high schools in america that are dropout factories. that's just a lack of opportunity if you're in the

wrong zip code. it's a real issue that has to be discussed longer term. so you've got education. you've also got this chronic unemployment. long-term unemployed now, a record number of people out of work. people falling into the poverty numbers who ten years ago never would have imagined they would have been in the ranks of the poor in america. the chronic long-term unemployed, should we be extending unep employment benefits indefinitely or changing how we do those programs so people can work and try to start businesses and try to do other things while getting jobless benefits? >> in a normal economic environment there are problems with very long unemployment insurance benefits. because if people don't have the incentive to jump the new jobs, which usually pay less than the ones they've had to leave, they often do tend to wait too long to make that jump, but these are not normal times. you know, the number of unemployed people we are job opening is about four to one right now in normal times about two to one. i think these extended benefits

are necessary. i was happy to see in the president's plan that he's trying to tie the extension of those benefits to things like training opportunities or part-time work or volunteer work. things that kind of will keep these people tied into the workforce. i think that's an important step, and i'm glad that we're taking it. >> an administration official told me yesterday they want to make it so people can get long-term benefits, get an extension of benefits and try to start a business. some might be held back trying to start a business or trying to start their own one-man or one-woman operation, because they're afraid they'll lose their benefits. as conservatives say, we can't be keeping people on unemployment three years. are you kidding? that's too long. >> again, i think if times were normal, if unemployment were at 6% rather than 9% i would agree with them. the u.s. in normal time it's, pretty good unemployment insurance system. but these -- unemployments, as you said, above 9%.

it's over nine months, average rate to collect. we need to do things to ensure that people who are unemployed don't become detached from the workforce altogether so mandating training, mandating part-time work does that. it solves the problems conservatives are identifying with now. >> author of the book "pinched." nice to see you. >> thank you. can't keep your eyes off a 21-year-old motorcyclist in utah pinned underneath a burning car after a fiery parking lot collision. he is alive today because a group of good samaritans lifted that burning vehicle off of him and pulled him out to safety. earlier on "american morning" we asked four of those heroes, including the first police officer on the scene, why they ran towards danger. >> i'm comforted to know that these -- all these gentlemen here are very educated and they

calculated the risk before going in. it was a conscious decision. they downplayed it a little bit, because they had some adrenaline that was really helping them out. they knew what they were doing. they knew there were risks involved but they made a conscious choice to get involved, and quite frankly, it saved the man's life, because me and the other officers would have never been able to probably do it in time. >> and those good samaritans, they said, they told us, we didn't even think twice about it. somebody was in need. we went to talk. what are you talking jab the rescued motorcyclist by the way, is undergoing physical therapy and is expected to recover. >> i can't hear what they were saying. almost by instinct, one guy pulls -- they didn't know each other. >> a woman in a skirt who ran up, bent down, looked underneath the car to see if anyone was under the car, which, of course, brandon was ununder the car then everybody ran in to help. no question. and pat-down of kids at airport security checkpoints. changing the way childrens

screened before they get on planes. adding fuel to the fire last year, this little girl was 6 years old. crying before this happened. physical body checks really angered parents and a lot of privacy experts. the tsa says kids under 12 years old will be allowed to keep on their shoes. several passes through metal detectors and scanners if they keep going off. the pat-downs only a last resort when talking about little kids. no texting, no talking. nothing but hands-free. the national transportation safety board wants to ban all cell phone use by truckers or anyone else with a commercial license while they are behind the wheel. it's only a recommendation so far. not a law yet, but it comes after investigators ruled that a trucker was on the phone at a time of a crash that killed 11 people in kentucky last year. these mothers to be in china are sitting at home with their feet up. no way. competing in a body painting contest for pregnant women.

>> for some reason that makes me laugh, but i love that. anderson cooper is so busy these days we needed to make another one of him. here he is unveiling his own madam tucson's wax figure on the second episode of his new talk show. >> ta-da. >> spent the past summer being measured. down to the diniest white hair on hi head. on display at madame tussaud's starting today. and still to come this morning, the agriculture department declaring war on e. coli. what the government's doing to protect your meat from potentially deadly bacteria. arizona in the middle of a new showdown with a mexican-american community over a ban on ethnic studies in school. teacher, saying they don't teach racism. they teach about racism. 39 minutes past the hour.

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the man who sponsored arizona's tough new immigration law is facing a recall. it's an attempt to unseat state

senate president russell pierce, the primary sponsor of the immigration law. federal courts blocked the most controversial parts of the law and it is now headed for the supreme court. >> now arizona is in the middle of another showdown with the mexican-american community with a controversial law that bans ethnic studies from being taught in arizona public schools. thelma got era has more. >> reporter: in arizona, it's a battle for the classroom, and the right to teach american history, government literature and art from the mexican-american perspective. >> culture class tackles what kind of issues would we call it? social just issues. >> reporter: instructors call it an ak democrating awakening. >> we're proud of our contributions. >> reporter: the former state superintendent of schools now attorney general of arizona says he couldn't disagree more. >> in the mexican-american cities program there was a

radical group of teachers teaching kids that the united states is dominateed by a white male racist imperialist power structure has wants to oppress latinos. >> reporter: textbooks used in class like these are radical and have no place in the classroom. a law passed in arizona last year bans courses that "either promote the overthrow of the united states government or promote resentment towards a race or class of people." but the director of the mexican-americans study program says they are misrepresenting the curriculum and never spent a day in the classrooms. >> we don't teach racism we teach about racism and injustice. >> teachers are fighting back in federal court arguing the ban is unconstitutional. >> if students don't see themselves in the curriculum, they're not going to be as

engaged in school. >> it's that racial identity we have severe problems with. >> reporter: the current state's superintendent commissioned an independent audit to assess the curriculum. while they did find "an overabundance of controversial commentary," they found no evidence the program promoted the overthrow of the american government, promoted resentment towards any race, nor evidence that it advocated ethic solidarity. >> that's one of the more prouder moments that i've had, is that knowing that our state superintendent who ordered this audit, his own auditors found exactly what we've been saying. >> it was obvious to us that the audit was a whitewash, didn't truly represent what was going on in the classes. >> that accusation frustrates me, and angers me, because he's been in our classroom, and i would never change it, and i invited him back. >> reporter: the audit also found that students who took the special curriculum had a better chance to graduate than those

who didn't, but unless the federal government intervene, the mexican-american studies program will be closed. thelma gutierrez, cnn, tucson, arizona. still to come this morning forget black friday. target tuesday. find out why the retailer was swarmed and its website crashed yesterday chts it's still crashed. amazing. and new steps to make our meat safer from e. coli. dr. sanjay gupta will have all the details for you. it's 46 minutes past the hour.

47 minutes past the hour.

whether two american hikers jailed in iran are actually getting out. their release is now not a sure thing. just yesterday iran's president said they could be out of jail in two days if he paid bail. bob trner winning the election to fill anthony weiner's house seat. the first time in nearly a century a republican has won the ninth new york district. and celebrating victory in nevada. sweeping past the democrat in a special election last night to join new york's bob turner as the newest gop member of congress. elizabeth warren is running for the u.s. senate seat in massachusetts. the former obama administration official and consumer advocate saying she will challenge republican brown for ted kennedy's senate seat. and across the country, everyone trying to get their hands on the items with the iconic colorful stripes from the

italian fashion house. the frenzy was so bad, target's website crashed. it's still crashed. you're now caught up on the day the headlines. "american morning" back in 60 seconds. what do you got? restrained driver...

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you can probably expect more meat recalls in the future, that's a good thing. >> well, it is if you put it this way. the usda will begin testing for seven strains of e. coli bacteria. until now, it focused on just the most common strain. the new government program mandates any food contaminated with e. coli will now be kept out of this food supply. >> dr. sanjay gupta is here with the gross meat story of the morning to start your day. sanjay, why weren't foods contaminated with e. coli kept out of our food supply before now? >> this probably has most to do with amount. what they would say is they would test for all the various strains of e. coli but if there were trace amounts of the six strains of e. coli they say, look, we think it's a small enough amount we don't think it

will cause a problem. this may not lead to more food recalls. what they're really trying to do is try to get to the this process before the food ever gets out there. this is talking about testing at the facilities. if they find these strains of bacteria, not allowing the food to ever get into the food supply. so, that could potentially be a good thing. now, one thing i'll point out is that we talked a lot about food safety issues. there's been a food safety modernization act which was passed just at the end of last year where they talk about the fact that the usda, the fda now has the power to issue recalls. in the past, they did not. as you may know, they recommended recalls, but they didn't actually have the authority to do the recall to mandate it themselves and they also beefed up inspections at these plants to try and prevent, you know, the potentially problematic bacteria from ever getting into the supply. not everyone thinks it is a good idea. the meat industry saying these six strains are so minor that it's just going to cost millions

of dollars to test for them and keep food from getting into the supply and may not have a significant public health benefit. this is sort of the back and forg that has been going on. >> that is from the american meat association. >> that's right. >> there is an outbreak happening right now, not e. coli but something else. what are you hearing? >> fascinating to try to trace these food outbreaks to figure out who got sick and piecing it altogether. from a mystery standpoint, always fascinating. it is listeria, a different type of bacteria than e. coli and they traced it back to cantaloupes. specifically from the rocky ford region of colorado. again, it's fascinating process, but 16 people have become sick in colorado and neighboring states, as well. but the whole process of trying to figure out from where it all came is what they've been working on. now, you know, the rest of the process is sort of what you expect. they, obviously, try and get to that particular place from where these cantaloupe came and make

sure that it's struck down from now and the produce coming out of there now is free and clean of listeria. people can, you know, this is a potentially deadly pathogen. especially for people with weakened immune system and pregnant women. the basic rules still apply. you know, wash this produce very clearly. make sure you take the skin off for a lot of the bacteria can reside. the basic sort of hygiene practices still apply. but that's how they sort of trace this all back. >> gotcha. dr. sanjay gupta, thanks so much. >> you got it. what is our government's responsibility for those in need? this from joseph. government responsibility is to get them to a point where they're not in need and teach them how they can make it on their own. from christinchristina, governm responsibility is to help the poor help themselves. in the same spirit of the peace corps, providing tools through

education, training and empowering everyone to reach their own potential only makes us a better country. it is shameful to have such a high poverty rate. this from gabriella, only the elderly and disabled should get government aid. anyone who is healthy and has two good arms and legs, can work for what they need. be creative and an entrepreneur. keep the comments coming. facebook.com/americanmorning. we'll keed more of your responses later in our show. >> these numbers come among record spending. more people are being fed by the government more than any other time in american history. at what point do you pull back and what point do you have to spend more and what programs are effective and which ones aren't? >> tough questions. >> yeah, you know, congress and the president can all agree on that so easily. >> sure. opening bell 90 minutes away. wall street wobbly, again. the reason to keep your eye on the money today at the top of the hour.

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new trouble for president obama. i'm carol costello. among a struggling economy, his disapproval rating hits its highest level since he took office. now, more middle class slipping into ranks of the poor in this country. i'm christine romans. new numbers out on poverty in the united states. more people than ever struggling and losing hope on this "american morning." and good morning to you. it is wednesday. only two more days until friday. september 14th is the date. ali velshi has the day off. >> you start counting down to friday on monday. that's what i love about you. fears of new york debt crisis resurfacing this morning

is putting wall street on edge. investors bracing for what could be another volatile day. part of the reason moody's cut the recredit rating for two of france's largest banks because of exposure to greek's debt crisis. >> here in the united states, it's all about jobs. today president obama heads to the key state of north carolina at a campaign for his jobs bill. the president was in ohio yesterday and, again, demanded congress, "pass this bill right away." republicans had said they would consider the plan, that is until they learned how the president planned to pay for it. tax hikes. speaking yesterday in ohio, president obama accused republicans of punishing the unemployed to keep his poll numbers down. >> they supported this stuff in the past, but, they're thinking maybe they don't do it this time because obama's promoting. give me a win. this isn't about giving me a win. this isn't about giving

republicans or democrats a win, it is about giving the american people a win. >> the president's job performance numbers have taken a hit. just take a look at this new cnn orc poll. 55% of americans say they don't think the president is doing a very good job. >> and there are new numbers out of the number of people falling into poverty in america and those numbers are staggering. the poverty level was up, again, for the fourth year in a row in 2010. there are more poor people right now in america than at any time since the census bureau started keeping count, that was 52 years ago. >> the government defines a poverty line of an income of just over $22,000 a year for a family of four and just over $11,000 for an individual. poppy harlow visited one of those families struggling to get by last year and went back to visit today. good morning. >> you'll see her story in a minute, but when you look at the numbers as the population increases, so do those living under the poverty line.

the increase is really troubling. 2.6 million person increase from just a year ago. these are 2010 numbers. it gives us about a 15% poverty rate in this country. and the issue for children is a lot worse. 22% of american children now live below the poverty line. take a look at ann valdez and her son, brian. >> i'm outside. meet the people in your community where you live. meet the people in the communities where you work and meet the people in the communities where you represent. >> see the face of poverty. >> see the face of poverty. >> we met ann valdez a year ago living under the poverty line like millions of other americans. we decided to come back a year later and see how ann is doing. >> my grandparent were one of the first tenants to live here in 1954. >> has the situation gotten better for you? >> no, it hasn't changed very much. right now i'm living on approximately $200 cash a month.

360 food stamps. i do not have a full-time job. on a daily basis since about 2004. >> how important are the safety nets out there for you right now? the things that are paid for by the government? >> well, the safety nets are very important. and the more that they get cut, the scarier it is to think about tomorrow. i buy a lot of nonperishables so this way there's always something to eat. most of the jobs they try to get for us are minimum wage jobs. if i get a minimum wage job, it will still leave me to apply for medicaid and food stamps. i'm still dependent on the system. sometimes you have to forget about getting what's healthy because you can't afford what's healthy. 2 for 5. >> brian, your mom grew up in poverty and you've grown up so far in the same situation.

what are your aspirations? what do you want to become? >> i want for high people in the high chairs like senator, the congressman, even the mayor to come down here, see what's going on in these neighborhood and see how destroyed these neighborhoods are. the spirits of these people, they are completely gone. >> all right, so, what would you like to aspire to? >> what are your dreams? >> right now i have none. >> you were telling me before, brian, firefighter. >> yeah. that's what it is. that's what i want to be, a firefighter. >> so, that's just one of the stories of these 46 plus million americans that are facing poverty right now. a lot of opinions on this, obviously. carol will get to that in her talk back. their projection is this is going to get worse. in the next decade, they think

the percent will go up to 16% in poverty and 6 million more american kids living in poverty and more than 31% of single mothers, just like ann, fathers not around, are living in poverty. >> joblessness is the number one cause for falling into poverty. she is completely, her family is completely supported by the taxpayers at this point. when was the last time she had a job? >> 2004 was the last time she had a full-time job. so, it's been seven years for her. and the only time she was off food stamps in her entire life was one year when she was working for the government. you were talking earlier about the american way of digging her way out of poverty. her grandparent lived in the public housing and her mother raised ann there and ann is raising her kids there and now her son brian is 12 and you saw how he felt. it's just going to be his

reality. hopefully not. she's working and very involved in the community to have that not be the case but also this lack of hope. >> she's not a victim of the great recession. she was in trouble way before then and that just shows you how you have the people who are victims of the great recession joining the ranks of people like ann who just had real trouble getting on her feet. >> when we met with her last year, you can't say someone in is poverty because they look like it. she has an apartment and has somewhere to live, but is still living day-to-day. >> some people say that's not destitute so how much can the government continue to support her when she's clearly walking around and these are tough questions we have to answer in america. >> especially with our economy and budget situation. you have to make tough choices. >> now is your chance to talk back on that big story of the day. the question for you this morning, what is our government's responsibility to those in need? some depressing numbers for you, again. america's poverty rate jumped to

15.1%. that's over 46 million people. what defines poverty? if a couple has two kids and a household income of $22,314. ann valdez is one of the poor in america, she's a single mother and she gets by thanks to food stamps and medicaid. >> we are in poverty. we have educations. we have abilities. we have aspirations. we have families. we have the same thing that apple pie america has. >> maybe you sympathize with ms. valdez. maybe that's the best you can do in these tough economic times. personal responsibility is hot these days, right? government aid is certainly not. you certainly heard that in the tea party debate when wolf blitzer asked what should happen to a hypothetical 30-year-old man who had been injured in a car accident and had no insurance. >> that's what freedom is all about. taking your own risks.

this whole idea that you have to prepare and take care of everybody. >> but, congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die? >> no. >> you heard the cheers there. there are some in america who ask, why should we, the taxpayers, help those who don't take responsibility for their own lives? why should the government dish out long-term unemployment benefits or food stamps or welfare. our talk back question is a tough one this morning. what is our government's responsibility for those in need? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read some of your comments later this hour. >> i just read a viewer comment disappointed we highlighted ann. i had a bunch of surgeries and working my tail off to get supported. when people are arguing about his unemployment benefits, which is not the same as generations -- it's a very tough situation and america has lived

beyond its means for a long time. >> do unemployment benefits discourage people from looking for work. if they're going to make just as much working. why work? >> unemployment benefits you can try to start your own business while on benefits or try to get something because that has discouraged some people. you lose your check if you go out and get a quick part-time job or something. all very, very tough questions. still ahead this morning, can you add immigration to the growing list of issues dividing the republican frontrunner rick perry from his gop rivals? will his political stuff plunge or does that just set him apart? rick perry is not the only one feeling the heat in texas. several cities have had several days of 100 degree temperatures. is today finally the end of all of this? >> i hope so for their sake. a smoky haze from a huge minnesota forestfire now spreading to chicago and wisconsin. it's ten minutes past the hour. as the years go by, some questions loom large.

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♪ cloudy and 82 with thunderstorms. they are expecting a temperature of 102 degrees a little later today. terrible heat wave there. >> jacqui jeras, when is this ever going to end? >> it feels like never, doesn't it? i can't believe you put that song in my head this morning, by the way, either. >> we'll have it for the rest of the day, i promise. a lot of records still going on in texas. i'm here, can you hear me? >> there you are. >> they're yelling at me, like we can't see you.

hello, hello. lots of records in texas, again, yesterday. 107 is what they had in dallas and also the 70th day this summer that you hit 100. that broke the record. today 102 like you mentioned. we'll add another day to that. we're talking 80s by tomorrow. hang in there. we also had a record in houston. 102 yesterday and that is the latest you've seen temperatures that warm and even in joplin, missouri, you hit 100 degrees yesterday. now, it's still hot to the south, but much cooler to the north. we have this huge cold front that is moving in across the nation's midsection. only 59 in minneapolis today and 67 in chicago and 678 8 degrees kansas city. temperatures so cold tonight that frost and freeze advisories have been posted across the upper midwest and we're watching conditions into the arrowhead of minnesota as a wild fire has been burning there. this is from outside, this is in the superior national forest. if you heard the boundary waters

canoe area, that's where this thing is. massive jump on this fire. it advanced like 16 miles and they say that was an unprecedented jump. they've never seen anything like this in minnesota fire history. this started two weeks ago from a lightning strike but took off recently because of the cold fronts i mentioned. a very densely forested area so it makes it hard to fight. the smoke pool from this thing is so impressive, you can really see it from space. this is a shot from a satellite from nasa. you can see that right off to the side. that is the heat signature and all of this is smoking in addition to clouds that develop because of that smoke and hot air rising into the atmosphere. just incredible pictures. that cold front moving to the south. showers in the nation's midsection and other than that little quiet. little foggy in philly, we have a ground stop. >> call ahead.

thanks. republican frontrunner rick perry travel boston campaigning on mitt romney's home turf. gop rivals have been attacking the texas governor on a number of his positions, including illegal immigration. joining us now from san diego, reuben who is a columnist for cnn.com. good morning. >> good morning, carol. good to be with you. >> thanks for being with us. rick perry is taking a lot of heat from conservatives on his immigration policy because texas allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and because he said it was ridiculous to build a wall along the border. these, these things differ from the usual tea party line. will this hurt him? >> well, it seems to have hurt him pretty significantly at the debate. the people in the audience, by the way, who are some of the folks who were yelling out that a person who needed medical care in a coma should die tells you something about the crowd in the audience. they also booed rick perry for

his comments about defending in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and illegal immigrants themselves. they have been there for 18 years all their life and they've been paying taxes and illegal immigrants do pay taxes. we shouldn't close our eyes and pretend they live in iowa or nebraska all those years. they should get the same benefit of anybody living in texas. that is not so radical. the tea party folks did find it radical, but very much in the sensible center of the debate. right where he needs to be. >> interesting you said that. you said that before that rick perry should just embrace his stance and go with it. >> well, yeah. he did at the debate. boy, i have covered politics for 20 years, carol. i have not often seen somebody who stands up in a debate and gets booed repeatedly and back down. he didn't pull a mitt romney and turn himself inside out to please these folks. take me as i am or don't take me

at all. they hated him and booed him again and doubled down again. amazing thing to see. he has courage and character and it came through in this debate. >> wow. also at the debate. i just want to mention this. perry said the sound of your last name shouldn't matter in texas. it's whether you want to pursue citizenship and not be a drag on the state. but, listen to what newt gingrich, who's also running for the republican presidential nomination said to wolf blitzer yesterday. >> it's not about somebody's last name. that's baloney. that particular line, i thought, was slightly goofy. the question is whether you are legal or not legal, your last name can be smith or, in my case, gingrich, if you're not legal you're over here, if you're not legal you're over here. it's about the status of legality in the united states. >> in listening to him, is it something you might expect him to say. the bigger question is, will republican voters really care deeply about the immigration issue at this time?

>> i think so. i would say this, newt gingrich. i have known newt and spoke to him about immigration. the comment he just made was goofy. that was a goofy comment by newt gingrich. maybe he lives in washington and doesn't really understand the immigration issue. just like rick santorum and perry lives in the real world in texas and what he knows is that this issue has always been wrapped up in race and racism. it has since the german immigrants in the late 1700s and through our history. we never had a conversation about immigration ever. rick perry knows that. when he made that reference to last name a lot of conservatives got their feelings hurt but they seized on that and the truth hurts and that's what he said and that's what he met and it struck me. >> he said the american way is to allow these immigrants, if they're living in texes for three years to have an education. michele bachmann said, no, that's not the american way. if you're in this country

illegal illegally, you're breaking the law and we shouldn't reward people for breaking the law in this country. >> michele bachmann lives in a dream world. she needs to go back to minnesota where she'll find people at hotels and restaurants in minneapolis and st. paul who hire illegal immigrants and turn a blind eye to the fact that they hire illegal immigrants. when michele bachmann starts talking tough about immigrants and she goes after them, the same people contributing to her campaign, then i'll pay attention to her. until then, she's just another republican hypocrite who goes after people who can't vote and leaves those employers alone. >> i can see you feel passionately about this. we appreciate your passionism this morning. you can read reuben's comments every thursday on cnn.com/under the opinion section. check of the morning markets, next. new rankings of the top schools in the country and there's a tie this year for number one. harvard, princeton or yale? 20 minutes after the hour. som of their retirement.

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welcome back. 24 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. right now futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are all trading higher ahead of the opening bell, but wall street is still considerably nervous about fears that europe's debt problem will worsen. that's worrying investors on both sides of the atlantic. the latest report from the census says the middle class is struggling in this country. the great recession hurting everybody. the median household income is down for the third year in a row. household income in this country now where it was in 1996. when adjusted for inflation. ford and the united auto workers union have reportedly extended contract talks indefinitely. this according to the "detroit free press" this morning. midnight is the deadline before the current contract runs out with those two companies. talk about a hot line. target.com crashing after italian fashion house missoni launched its new clothing and

home goods line. the site was completely shut down just after hour after the items were up. service is back up now, but target is warning that some customers may still experience delays due to very high traffic. google announced a new flight searching tool yesterday. a move that was expected. the company bought ati software last year which makes similar products like for competing sites like kayak and orbitz. princeton and harvard tied this year for best colleges list. yale took third and columbia fourth and an unusual five-way tie between cal tech, mit, stanford, university of chicago and upenn. how to get the kids the education they deserve, even if it means picking a fight. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage

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just about half past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." developing right now, we were told they were getting out of jail, but this morning we're hearing a far different story. an iranian judiciary official now says there is no decision on whether two american hikers, shane bauer and josh fattal will be let go. iran's president saying in an interview yesterday they could be released in a couple days. as soon as each paid $500,000 bail, but things remain in the air this morning. >> the taliban's attack on the u.s. embassy attack is over this morning. earlier today security forces killed the six militants who

stormed that nearby building and launched a high-profile attack on the embassy. officials said no one inside the embassy was injured. today president obama heads to north carolina to build support for his job's plan. first, he'll be speaking at a manufacturing plant in apex and then travel to north carolina state university to talk about his job's proposal. you know, the president's sales pitch comes as his disapproval rating hits a new high. 55% do not approve of the president's jobs performance. add to that a sobering setback for democrats. bob turner filling the race to fill weiner's seat. the first time in a century that a republican has captured the democratic ninth new york district and turner did it with an anti-obama campaign. >> been asked by the people of this district, to send the message to washington and i hope they hear it loud and clear. we have been told this is a

referendum. and we're ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. >> all right, back to the story of the impact the great recession has had on all income levels in this country. more people than any time in american history are being fed by the government. one in five children lives in poverty and the middle class is pummeled and just over 49 grand a year. these numbers are political fodder in our morning opinion. liberals like bernie sanders says it's government saying, "there are some in congress who wish to decimate the exiting safety net which provides a modicum of security. there are no questionsen my mind that many more thousands of men, women and children will die." but in today's "wall street journal" "the official rate significantly overstates poverty

by missing the government income transfers. the lesson we draw is that politicians who support policies that make economic growth their top priority raise everybody's incomes, even some incomes rise more rapidly than others. politicians who put income redistribution above overall economic growth do worse by everybody, especially the poor." are we making smart investments? the chairman of the rnc takes on spending as a list that stimulus is a bust. the company which laid off 1,100 workers after its sudden demise once looked like the poster child of stimulus success. when politics, business and government mix in this way, no one wins. the sooner america learns this, the sooner we can find real answers to our economic woes. until then, the president's solutions will create only more problems. a california company that took loans and money from the stimulus effort and then went out of business.

chinese competition. three different businesses have gone out of business because of competition from china. stimulus package did not help. >> there you go. as we mentioned, today president obama will speak more about that jobs plan in north carolina state university. now, education a big part of the president's job plan. he wants to improve schools and prevent teachers from being laid off. if you're a parent, what can you do to make sure your children get the education they deserve? steve perry, who is also the author of "push has come to shove." this morning we're all dissecting what the government should be doing and what it shouldn't be doing and how many people are poor and how the middle class are losing opportunity and at the bottom of it all is this ability to get a quality education to give you the skills so you can compete no matter what. something the american education system has been having trouble with. >> been having trouble with for a long time. the reason i wrote the book getting our kids the education they deserve, even if it means

picking a fight is because i have seen the focus on the adults. our singular focus has been, even the president saying that he wants to improve education by making sure that teachers are not laid off. i don't know if there's a one-to-one relationship on that. if you want to improve the quality of education and make sure that the best teachers are hired and the best teachers are maintained in the system and that we stop placing the blame on the parents and poverty and all these other things because the countries that are whooping our behind right now were poor and haven't become wealthy just yet, but they are academically outperforming us. we can look at china as the best example. their investments in instructure are not stimulus package, per se, but academic capacity of their people and that has moved them forward. you want to look at another country, look at brazil. brazil was on its way to total destruction. they also have oil in the middle east, but they don't have good

schools. america is in trouble if we don't get good schools. >> we are a very dynamic country and a lot of different schools, unfortunately. depending on your zip code, depends what kind of public school you're going to get and 11% of students are going to public school because their parent decided to take them out of public school. on the same day we're talking about yale and harvard or princeton and harvard tying for number one. talk about two in ten kids are poor or hungry in this country. so, just shows you the biggest country in the world how crazy everything is. let me ask you about what parents can do and what kids can do. you have some advice that we pulled from the book. instilled curiosity. for you to try to get your family going in the right direction instill curiosity. why? >> because a curious child. i once spoke with a chinese educator and he said most of the families play for a curious child because they will ask great questions. when you ask great questions you'll get a betteri

understanding of the world around you. not just the quality of the research, but really the quality of the question. >> eorganize. >> we've seen it with the summer or spring. this is how many parents who can't make it to the pto meeting or at the board of education meeting. they can't go there and be rebel rousers and make a bunch of noise. they need to fill their superintendent's e-mail box fill of their concerns. so every time she wakes up in the morning she knows there is somebody watching and they are accountable for something like that. >> number three, get a seat at the table with the decisionmakers and if all else fails, sue them. is that the part that means picking a fight that is in the subtitle of your book? >> no doubt. the problem is that we have done the civil rights thing and we marched and cried and sang and all that and what we've gotten is the same old failed school system. enough is enough. our children deserve an american education, which means it should

be the best in the world. which means that every single child should be put forward ahead of adults. we don't need to do any more research on what good schools are. you want to know what the good schools are. ask your teachers where they send their kids to school. >> steve perry, thank you so much. the book is called "push has come to shove." it's a good read. getting our kids the education they deserve, even if it means picking a fight. thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up next, casey anthony's parents talk to dr. phil and they have a new theory about the death of their granddaughter, caylee. >> casey's lawyer, jose baez is going from one high-profile case to another. 38 minutes a after the hour. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china,

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40 minutes past the hour. casey anthony's attorney has a new high-profile case.

jose baez confirming he will represent gary giordano. he is the suspect in the disappearance of his companion. he will not be permitted to make arguments in the areuben courts. george and cindy anthony appearing on "dr. phil" show yesterday. george admitting his daughter continued to lie after her daughter caylee went missing. cindy telling dr. phil, she's convinced her daughter is sick and needs help. >> i don't know why she's having seizures? does she have a brain tumor. i don't know if she had a seizure that day or blacked out and i don't know what happened and that's what i want to find out down the road. i'm not making justifications for that, but there's a cause for this.

you just don't have a grand mal seizure. >> your theory is that she is a victim in this in some way. a victim of an illness, a tumor or something. >> i truly believe that because there was never any signs that casey was an unfit mother. she was an awesome mother. looking back now, i'm almost wondering if she didn't develop post partum schizophrenia or some sort of issue after her pregnancy, the hormonal type of illness. i mean, that's my perception because none of those behaviors were exhibited prior to her pregnancy. >> the caseys will or the anthonies will be on dr. phil, again, today. morning headlines coming your way, next. including a dead satellite about to plummet back to earth. it's 42 minutes past the hour. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank.

from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. ♪ [ multiple snds ng melodic tune ] ♪ [ malennounc ] at northrop grumman, makthworld a feplace. th's value performance. northr gruan. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands.

this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. 44 minutes past the hour. here are your morning headlines. u.s. markets open in just about 45 minutes. futers for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all trading higher ahead of the opening bell. wall street bracing for potentially choppy session today, though, amidst fears about europe's debt problems. poverty hitting a record level in the united states. new sensiesenses figures show 2 million more people are living in poverty since last year and the most since the census

started tracking this five decades ago. president obama back on the road for his big jobs plan. today he's in north carolina. the white house says the president will emphasize the need for congress to pass this jobs bill and put americans back to work. president obama's disapproval rating hits a an all-time high. according to an orc poll, 55% of americans do not think the president is doing a good job. bob turner winning the election to fill anthony weiner's empty house seat. the first time a republican has captured the traditionally democratic ninth district. fewer pat downs for kids. changing the way children are screened before they get on airplanes. pat downs will now be a resort for children under the age of 12 if things like metal detectors and scanners keep going off. dish suffered an outage last night mostly affecting hd service. they hope it will all be fixed

by this morning. nasa says a dead satellite will fall back to earth by the end of the month. officials expect most of the 6 ton piece of space junk to burn up during reentry and pose little risk to people on the ground. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break.

new york city, it's nice outside. kind of fair, 73. although, later we're told it is going to be thunderstormy here later today and 81 degrees. welcome back to "american

morning." who is the highest paid man in hollywood. tyler perry tops "forbes" annual list. perry made $130 million between may of 2010 and may of 2011. also in the top five, producer jerry bruckheimer with $113 million and steven spielberg with 107 million. reese witherspoon has been spotted in public for the first time since she was hit by a car last week. appearing at a party yesterday in los angeles. she has a black eye and also has a bandage on her forehead. she will not press charges against the 84-year-old driver who struck her in an unmarked crosswalk. anderson cooper is so very busy these days that we needed to make another one of him. here he is unveiling his own madam tussaud on the new talk show. he was measured down to the tiniest white hair on his head.

his wax figure will be on display starting today. j. crew a fashion label with annual 10-figure sales and hundreds of stores nationwide and big plans to expand internationally. >> j. crew also has the presidential seal of approval. alina cho taking us behind the seams to visit with mickey drexler the company's highly unorthodox ceo. >> you remember michelle obama wearing j. crew. it was already hot. but j. crew, keep in mind, wasn't always so successful. it was back when we were in college, remember that, when we ordered those barn jacket and cowl neck sweaters from the j. crew catalog. j. crew was hot and then it was not and now it is hot again sdmats and that's largely because of the man at the helm. it's something i have never seen. watch. >> can i have your attention, please.

>> reporter: meet america's merchant prince. >> if anyone can just bring in best sellers. >> reporter: he's mickey drexler, ceo of j. crew. >> things that are new, new trend. >> reporter: the racks keep come rolling in. >> the green is doing half the sales as the white blouse. >> reporter: why the intercom? >> just why you don't see any walls here. because i think most organizations are fortress oriented. >> reporter: not at j. crew where dexler's mantra is no fun. a decade ago j. crew was in a slump until drexler came aboard nine years ago, picked up after being abruptly fired from the gap. who is your biggest competitor? >> you know, i could say anyone with a sewing machine. >> reporter: he has been credited with creating casual fridays by the changing the way

americans dress. elevating j. crew to affordable luxury. they really are the iconic american brand, aren't they? >> j. crew has made itself into something magical. i know women who will afford anything in the world and go through and just order the outfits right off the page. >> he wanted to talk about italian cashmere and quality and we haven't been having those conversations. >> reporter: it worked. under drexly, j. crew sales have tripled to $1.8 billion. with the first family's seal of approval. >> i want to ask you about your wardrobe. i guess about 60 grand. >> actually, this is a j. crew ensemble. >> wow. >> reporter: you call her an act of god. >> look, you can't argue with that kind of publicity. >> reporter: the secret -- a big splash of color. j. crew's signature. >> when you buy something like this, you're competing with 50

other retailers. >> reporter: that's why you got this. >> color is a competitive advantage for us. >> reporter: he created crew cuts for kids, bridal, jewelry and everywhere there's sparkle. 233 stores nationwide. they're in canada and have their sights set on china, too. this season, for the first time, j. crew presented its latest collection under the fashion tents. six foot tall jenna lions is the resident cool girl. j. crew's president. >> don't do that, stay over here, stop. it's maybe just a little bit of that that keeps everything coming out of the tunnel at the other end. >> reporter: color combos. >> i wore these. but you have to wear these with a sequin skirt. >> reporter: drexler's philosophy is quite simple and all american. just like j. crew. >> do it, do it right.

pay close attention to the product. and over time you will win. >> great philosophy. j. crew, if you think about it, has grown organically. the bridal business started after drexler noticed that women were buying multiple copies of a dress for their bridesmaids. crew cuts for kids started because boys like to dress like their fathers and girls like to shop with their mothers. start them early and they'll shop for life. >> you can get a pair of khakis anywhere but if you have the color to throw in, maybe you're likely to pick it up in the same place. >> they like to call it happy shopping. >> i like that. thanks alina. rachel zoe has dressed them all. now zoe, who has her own reality show is branching out with a new fashion line. but will the fashion world embrace her?

alina will have the answer for you tomorrow. >> in her inside look at fashion and design continues all week. cnn's alina cho sitting down with the most influential designers, editors and ends in her september "fashion backstage pass." our talk back question of the day. what is our government responsibility to those in need? we'll read through some of your responses. it's 54 minutes past the hour.

♪ wake me up when september ends ♪ good morning, washington, d.c. beautiful shot of the capitol building. crisp september morning. fair, we're told. thunderstorms and 89 later today, carol. >> i'm just looking over our facebook page because we got nearly 400 comments this morning on this poverty question.

people are really concerned about the government's role in helping people get out of poverty and to what extent should the government help people and a lot of people are, actually, they're arguing with each other now. i love to see because that means it's a heated, passionate discussion. the talk back question today. what is the government's responsibility in helping those in need? this is from amy. it's frustrating to see that we continually pay for people that complain that all they can find is part-time employment. i have two part-time jobs and a small business. just because i couldn't make enough money at one job, i didn't sit down and start drawing benefits. no, i went out and picked up another job when my hours got cut. this from caleb, government's responsibility is to help those in need. it may not be the government's fault that they are in need, but it is the government's job to make sure that they get out of whatever hole they are in. helping those